


The Courage of Witt

by TheOriginalCowboyCat



Series: Love Like You | Miragehound Shorts [2]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Crush, Blood and Injury, Bloodhound Headcanons (Apex Legends), CPR, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Crushes, Feelings Realization, I posted this then took it down and rewrote the entire thing, Near Death Experiences, Other, Panic Attacks, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Pre-Relationship, Title Subject to Change, Trans Mirage | Elliott Witt, forgive me if it doesn't live up to expectations, miragehound, so please enjoy, suffocation, the summery is shit, this has taken me almost a YEAR to complete
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22810312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOriginalCowboyCat/pseuds/TheOriginalCowboyCat
Summary: Elliott Witt, or Mirage as he's known in the Arena, has been in the Apex Games for a little less than 4 months and has yet to claim the title of Champion. Now paired with Bangalore and Bloodhound, the mysterious hunter he has a hopeless crush on, he's confident that he can snag the victory he so desperately wants... all he has to do is be a team player, which proves to be more difficult than he thought.But through a series of rather unfortunate events, Elliott learns what it means to be a true Legend.
Relationships: Bloodhound/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Series: Love Like You | Miragehound Shorts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1466215
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	The Courage of Witt

“I’ve got Pathfinder right on my ass! Somebody take him out!” Mirage yelled out over the coms, running as fast as he could to avoid the bullets that rained down around him. His squad was making good progress, one of the remaining 3 squads left in the arena and there was no way he was giving up the Champion title to a bucket of bolts. 

“Ugh, I know you two just love listening to the sound of my voice, but I’m actually kinda dying here!?” he continued, diving headfirst into a small stand of bushes and rocks, hoping to evade his pursuers by sending out a small wave of decoys, “Bangalore? Hound?”.

But the coms line was just filled with dead air, the device most likely sustaining damage from sliding and scrambling around the arena, meaning Mirage was utterly and totally screwed. He could hear Pathfinder and his squad moving in, having already seen through the trickster’s diversion.

“Fuck, fuck fuck, fuck!” he cursed sharply to himself, clutching his Peacekeeper tightly in his hands, ready to accept his early end and inevitable loss. But, right when the enemy squad was about to stumble across his hiding spot, Mirage heard the words he never thought would be so reassuring.

“Allfather, give me sight!” Bloodhound yelled, their voice and unnerving, almost inhuman growl followed by the familiar sound of Bangalore’s smoke gun firing off somewhere in their direction.

With a heavy sigh of relief, Mirage watched as the area was filled with smoke, the unsuspecting squad scrambling to get away despite knowing their efforts would be useless… No one can evade the eyes of the Hunter.

An instant battle begins between the two squads, bullets flying in every direction, a few hitting the rock face he was pressed up against, sparks sprinkling down over him. “Hey, watch where you’re firing!” Mirage yelled nervously, doing his best to mask his utter fear with jokes and quips, “You’ll shoot someone’s eye out!”.

He was pretty sure he heard Bangalore groan in annoyance over the coms, but he couldn’t be too sure, the gunshots were echoing all around him, causing his ears to ring nonstop. But slowly, he realized that the firing was coming to a cease, screams of pain followed by heavy thuds on the ground ending the match as quickly as it began.

Soon the automated voice of the announcer wafts through the arena, uttering an all too familiar phrase, _ “New Kill leader appointed”. _Mirage wasn’t sure if hearing that was a good thing considering the possibility the opposing squad could have taken out his own, but with Bloodhound on their side, such a thing wasn’t likely.

“Please tell me that was us, tell me we won,” Mirage said, poking his head out from behind the bush, once again getting no response from his squadmates, “I don’t feel like spending the next few hours in the infrm- infirary infrm... medbay licking my wounds,”.

There was nothing to be seen through the thick smoke that slowly began to dissipate into the open air, all except for a glowing red dot that seemed to be inching closer and closer to where he hid. _ Shit! The Pathfinder was still alive! _ Gripping his weapon and taking a moment to relax, Mirage jumped out of the bush, gun pointed and ready to fire at whatever might threaten him.

“Don’t fire!” Bloodhound said, their voice calm and steady, “It is just me”.

“Jesus Christ, Hound! I almost blew your head clean off!” he yelped, lowering his gun immediately when he saw his friend emerge through the smoke, “Why didn’t you answer your coms to tell me you were coming?”.

Due to the mask, Bloodhound remained expressionless, but Mirage could imagine the amusement on their face as they spoke their next sentence. “It is more fun this way. But you needn't worry. We would not have abandoned you, as much as Bangalore wanted to,”.

The woman in question stepped out of the thinning smoke, giving the hunter a glare as she walked up, “Snitch…”.

Mirage rolled his eyes and cracked a smile, “Oh god, the last thing I need is for my teammates to team up against me… but seriously, thanks for saving my ass,”.

“Just don’t jeopardize us like that again, alright twinkle toes?” the taller woman says, pointing her Hemlok warningly at his chest, “No more running off, we can’t afford to have anyone get downed this far into the games,”.

“Let’s not threaten our brethren,” Bloodhound says, pushing the gun away from Mirage, their voice softening slightly, “But I must agree. It was foolish of you to wander off without your team to have your back, thank the Allfather that we arrived when we did,”.

The Trickster always seemed to blush slightly whenever the mysterious hunter spoke like that, soft and doting, unlike their normally gruff and assertive tone. He didn’t mind it, of course, in fact, Mirage rather enjoyed Bloodhound’s uncharacteristic warmth towards him… he’d be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on.

Who’d have thought he’d fall for the dark and brooding type?

“Uh… yeah, sorry about that,” the curly-haired brunette muttered, giving his squad a shy, nervous look, “I’ll stick with ya from now on…”. 

Bangalore just scoffed, seeming unimpressed by his apology and immediately began scouting ahead again, leaving him and Bloodhound alone on the battlefield. It was awkward since he had no clue what to say to them, slightly ashamed that he abandoned his team for some measly loot, but before he could continue making an ass of himself, Mirage noticed some damage to the hunter’s mask.

It was a small fracture splintering across the right lense of their helmet, resulting in the single glowing red eye he’d seen through the smoke.

“Hey… your mask is jacked up,” he said in a clearly worried tone, “Did you get hurt? I have a few syringes if you did”.

“Mirage,” Bloodhound said, placing a gloved hand on his shoulder, stopping him for digging through his pockets, “It is minimal damage, cosmetic. I can easily fix it once I return to my quarters, it does not alter my abilities in the slightest. Ég er góður,”.

Despite not understanding that last part, Mirage nodded and allowed himself to relax, feeling comforted by the hunter’s native language. “Okay,” he muttered, risking a glance at their hand that still rested on his shoulder, “Sorry for panik-paking... for freaking out on you, I just-”.

“_ Elskan _...” they said, cutting him off again, this time with the single, foreign word.

He blushed a bit more.

“Yeah?”.

“Do not fret so much, you’ll get killed that way,”.

With that, the mysterious hunter patted his shoulder again before moving on, stalking off through the many abandoned shacks and buildings that cluttered the Destroyed Cascades in search of Bangalore. 

Mirage just stood there, wide-eyed and confused. Was that Bloodhound’s way of comfort, or was he just insulted for being such a worry-wart? Either way, he didn’t have time to try and interpret their brief interaction, the ring was closing in again and his team was ready to move on… but that didn’t stop him from wondering.

* * *

Bangalore had already set up a small camp inside one of the dilapidated buildings by the time Mirage caught up with Bloodhound. “You lovebirds done talking yet, or am I going to have to win this thing myself?” she asked teasingly, giving them both a somewhat annoyed look.

“Jesus, do you have any other emotions aside from constantly pissed off?” he said, watching as the masked hunter took residence in the middle of the room, silent and still, ready for action at a moment’s notice, “And we’re not… just… ugh, don’t call us that”.

“Whatever twinkle toes, the last ring should be closing soon, so keep an eye out for the remaining squad, we have no clue how many they still have alive,” she continued, looking over at Bloodhound, “You still got that Longbow?”.

They nod.

“Good, you get to be our sniper. As much as it pains me to admit, you’re the best shot out of any of us. Keep us safe, okay Hound? And you...”.

Mirage jumped slightly when Bangalore addressed him, “Uh… y- yeah?”.

The woman just gives him a lopsided smile, “You’re on door duty”.

“Door duty, for fucking real?! That’s a rookie’s job!”.

“Oh, and just what are you then, Mirage. You’ve only been here for a little less than 4 months,” Bangalore said, stepping up and poking a finger roughly into his chest, “And as far as I know you don’t have a single victory under your belt, so watch. the damn. Door. If we’re lucky it’ll teach you some patience. You’re going to need it if you plan on making it anywhere,“.

He was just about to protest some more, about how he’s made it to the top 3 squads before, but before he could stand his ground, Bloodhound cut him off.

“Take pride in your job. As small and humiliating as it may seem, we are all a team, we cannot work unless everyone does their part. You will keep us safe from anyone who tries to attack us from behind,” They said, “That is an honorable thing to do,”.

Okay, Mirage really couldn’t bring himself to argue with Bloodhound, especially when they made every minuscule job sound so cool. 

“Fine, I’ll do the damn door duty, but only because you’re so persua-pursas -persa… so damn convincing!” he muttered, pointing to the masked hunter as he stubbornly walked off to the far side of the shack, planting himself on the ground with his arms crossed and back to his teammates. For a while he did his best to watch his surroundings but being the nosy bastard he was, Mirage couldn’t help but listen in on their conversation, curiosity getting the best of him.

“He acts like such a child some,” Bangalore muttered with an exhausted, almost concerned sigh, “How he even got in these games is beyond me. He’s not a team player, he goes off on his own and gets his squads killed half the time by making some rookie mistakes!”.

“Mirage may act childish at times, but he has worked hard to be where he is,” Bloodhound said simply, “We are all here for our own reasons, it would not be wise to-”.

“Why are you so set on protecting him?” the woman asked, cutting them off, “He’s just a dumb kid with a hard-on for fame and glory, same as most of the other newbies, he just got lucky and made it past all the qualifiers. I admit he’s got talent, but his cockiness and need to prove he’s good enough is what’s going to get him killed for real one day,”.

“Money, fame, pride... it does not matter _ why _ he is here, why any of us are here. We are all fjölskylda _ , family, _ and I do not appreciate you talking so lowly of him. Mirage may make some rash decisions at times, but that does not lessen his abilities to survive or protect his teammates,”.

She seems content with their answer and nodded, most likely not wanting to continue arguing with Bloodhound. It was an unspoken rule between all the Legends not to piss off the mysterious masked hunter, their ominous presence striking fear into everyone’s hearts. But, Elliott wasn’t scared of Bloodhound like the others were, there was just something about them that…_ intrigued _ him.

They were nice to him, not in the sense of buying him a beer after a game but, they looked out for him in the ring, absently making sure he was full up on health and ammo, small things like that. Mirage wasn’t sure if it was because he was new, and a certified dumbass but… they never seemed to do anything like that for the other Legends.

Only him.

It made him squirm and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

He was about to open his mouth and thank them for standing up for him, but Bloodhound had already noticed him listening in on their conversation, raising a gloved finger and pressing it against their mouthpiece, shushing him without even saying a word.

Mirage blushed and snapped his mouth shut, nodding silently.

It wasn’t often he got flustered like this, it took great effort to make Elliott Witt blush, but somehow, without even trying, without even showing their _ face _, Bloodhound managed to, and Mirage had no idea how to handle it. He was a tease, everyone in the games knew him as the annoying flirt who liked to get under other people’s skin just for the fun of it. That was true for the most part, yes, but whenever the right kind of person came along, his flirting was genuine.

Though, it wasn’t like anyone took him seriously unless they were just looking for an easy score. But, he really liked Bloodhound, more than he liked anyone before, which made everything all the more difficult.

Teammate, co-worker, friend… he had no chance.

And who was to say they liked him back? Or even liked guys? Or… anyone for that matter?

It was a lot to think about.

“You okay there, loverboy?” Bangalore said, drawing Mirage out of his thoughts with a not-as-soft-as-it-looked rock thrown at him, “Looks like you’re head’s gonna pop off,”.

He scoffed and furrowed his brow. “I’m fine, okay? Stop asking and stop calling me names, it’s starting to get old,”. 

“Well, for one I give all the rookies nicknames,” she continued, “And we’re all friends here, no harm in getting to know each other a little better.'' 

Elliott tensed a little, “What do you wanna know? And why? You’ve kinda been an asshole to me ever since I got here...”.

She huffed and chuckled a bit, “Fair. You don’t gotta tell me anything, just tryin’ to be friendly, but since you did ditch your team for loot and almost cost us the match, I think you owe it to us to answer _ one _question,”.

“Anita…” Bloodhound hissed warningly.

“Calm down, he doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to, I’m not going to force him,” the woman replied, looking back towards them, “_ But _ don’t ya agree that he owes it to us to answer a few-”.

“Fine, fine, I’ll answer your damn question,” Mirage grumbled, tossing his hands up “Just… quit bickering,”.

Bangalore seemed to please, while the hunter rolled their head back a little, most likely rolling their eyes. “If it keeps you two quiet, answer as many as you would like, but be prepared to move. The next ring will be upon us soon,”.

“I’ll make it quick and simple, a yes or no question,”.

“Just ask already,”.

She smirked a little and chuckled, “So, loverboy… you got anyone waiting for you back home? No offense, but with an ego as big as yours, you’re bound to draw in _ someone _…”.

Mirage immediately felt his face go beat red with embarrassment, risking a quick glance over to Bloodhound before returning his gaze to his other squadmate. “N- nope, I- I uh don’t have anyone back home… or here! Or anywhere!” he stammered nervously, “I’m as single as can be!”.

Bangalore gave him an odd look, and of course, looked back at the hunter who was still completely disinterested by what was happening behind them, seeming to put two and two together. She blinked once and smiled knowingly at him, “Ah… I see,”.

“No, no! There’s nothing to see!” he insisted with another nervous chuckle, “Nothing to see here!”.

“Calm down, I’m not going to say anything. I think it’s cute,”.

That really didn’t help his anxiety, a deeper blush settling on his cheeks.

“I mean, that explains why you chose to be on our squad today and all the other times too. No need to be ashamed,”.

“I’m not ashamed,” he hissed softly, keeping his voice low, “I just… don’t know how to go about this,”.

“Just go with your gut,” Bangalore said, “Worst they can say is no,”.

Mirage shot the hunter in question a wearily look, wondering if they caught on to the implications of Bangalore’s comment, but they didn’t even seem to hear anything, focused on their surroundings. 

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he continued.

“Well, like I always said back during my army days, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ and even if you do miss, at least you could say you tried,”

“... I guess you’re right, but I don’t even know where to _ start _,”.

“I am certain you will figure out how to speak with your crush, Mirage,” Bloodhound said suddenly, causing both of them to jump in surprise, had they been listening to them this whole time?! “But now is not the time to discuss fraternizing with your squadmates, especially in front of them, we need to begin our journey into the next ring,”.

Mirage felt like his head was going to explode, heart hammering wildly in his chest. “W- what? We weren’t talking about… uh, we were just..” he began, desperate to defend himself but the hunter cut him off again.

“We will discuss this later,” they said, looking at him with an expressionless gaze.

“But, I-”.

“Not now, Elliott,”.

He held his tongue the best he could, but the fact that Bloodhound had used his actual name sent another wave of warmth over his body.

“Okay,” he squeaked out.

The hunter nodded and turned back to the open window, just in time to be met with a bullet to the chest from the remaining enemy squad. 

“SNIPER!” Bangalore yelled, jumping into action before Bloodhound even hit the floor, leaving Mirage, head reeling at what just happened, to help his downed teammate.

“Hound! Oh, fuck, oh fuck. Are you okay?!” He cried, scrambling over to the hunter and dragging them away from the open window, as the fight carried on, “Shit, shit, shit!”.

Bloodhound was still alive and clearly disoriented, their chest rising and falling rapidly as they gripped on tightly to their wound. The Level 2 armor they were wearing had shattered, absorbing most of the bullet’s damage but it still cost them a fair amount of health.

“Hey, hey can you hear me?” Mirage asked, gently slapping the side of their helmet, “Bloodhound?”.

If felt like forever but they finally nodded, much to the curly-haired man’s relief, grunting softly uncomfortably in pain. But his relief was short-lived as Bloodhound lifted a shaky, blood-soaked hand and pointed absently to one of the doors he was supposed to be watching.

“Help her, protect your team,”.

“What?! I’m not leaving you, you’re hurt, you need to heal up and-”.

They stopped him from digging through his pockets again, “Go. I’ll be fine, I won’t die. Now go help you’re brethren, do not worry about me, you will have time to recover my banner,”.

Mirage just blinked, a small grin pulling at the side of his lips as he continued to pull out a syringe, jabbing it into their arm. “For what it’s worth, I’m not gonna stop worrying about you, no matter how much you ask. Now you stay here, heal up, and I’ll come back for you, okay?”.

It wasn’t really a question, and Bloodhound didn’t really have many other options.

“May the gods protect you, Elliott,” They said, placing their hand over his as they took hold of the syringe, “The Allfather is on your side,”.

He nodded and smiled, winking at the hunter as he picked up his Peacekeeper and ran out the door to join the fight.

* * *

“You good, kid?” Bangalore asked, giving Mirage a genuinely concerned look as he finally made his way over to her, taking cover behind a supply crate, “You get their banner or-?”.

“They’re fine, healing up,” he responded, shakily taking his Peacekeeper and firing it blindly towards the opposing squad, “Let’s just finished this so we can help Hound,”.

She nodded, continuing to shoot as Gibraltar and Wraith drew closer to them, “I’m running out of ammo here and it’s too dangerous to send out an airstrike with the ring so small, any chance you-”.

“Smoke the area, and I’ll send out a decoy, then you flank ‘em from the right,” Mirage said, “I’ll charge forward and take care of Wraith, think you can take down the big guy?”.

She nodded confidently, “He’ll give me shit for a few days, but it’s all good in the name of victory. Good plan, kid,”.

Maybe, he decided, Bangalore wasn’t all that bad.

“Okay, on three. One… two… three!”.

And just like that, the small area they were in quickly filled with smoke as Mirage deployed a decoy in the direction he sent Bangalore, hoping his cloaking would last long enough to reach Wraith, the other woman phasing in and out of dimensions as she tried to find a target through the smoke.

He chuckled a bit to himself as he came up behind her, still invisible, “Marco!”.

Wraith jumped a little and groaned when she realized what was happening, “Oh god, how are _ you _ still alive? I figured you’d be firstblood...”.

“Well, it’s good to see you too!” Mirage teased, quickly running up and trying to tackle the dark-haired woman, “What, not even a hello for your old pal, Elliott?”.

She teleported out of the way before he even had a chance to touch her, “In the Arena, we’re not friends, but yes, hello Elliott. Now would you be so kind as to shut up and let me kill you?”.

“But where’s the fun in that?”.

“Me being able to gloat and rub in your face that _ I’m _ the champion and you’re not,”.

He scoffed and picked himself off the ground, shooting vaguely in her direction with his Peacekeeper, “Oh, _ now _ who’s the one acting childish, you’re not going to win this time, princess. So just take the loss so I can go check on Hound”.

That seemed to pique her interest. “So you finally talked to them?”.

“I was trying to but you kinda shot them before I was able to confess anything so,” Mirage said, getting a few good shots in before Wraith started firing back, “To whom do I owe the pleasure of beating up once we’re out of here?”.

“It wasn’t me, you know I’m shit at long-range stuff,” she replied, teleporting around again, missing the next few rounds she tried to shoot at him, “Are you done by chance? This conversation is starting to get old… no offense, of course,”.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Mirage said, pausing mid-fight, “You should be getting your break right about…. now,”.

Before she even realized it, Bangalore stepped out of the smoke and downed her with one shot to the gut, the look of shock and surprise in her eyes made him chuckle. “Jesus, I didn’t think you’d actually fall for that… wow. Don’t you have an early warning system for stuff like that?”.

“You’re a bastard, Elliott. You know that?” Wraith hissed, clutching her side and bowing her head in defeat, “A real bastard,”.

“Born and raised,” he replied with a large, shit-eating grin, “You have my father to thank for that,”.

The other woman rolled her eyes and groaned, looking up at Bangalore who stood beside him, “Anita, can you just take me out already, one more minute with him and I’ll do it myself,”.

“With pleasure,” Bangalore replied with a wink, pointing her gun down at her opponent's head, “See you in the sky, princess,”.

And with a single bullet, Wraith was replaced with a deathbox.

“Fuck yeah! We won!” Mirage cheered, pumping a fist in the air as he did a little celebratory dance, “We’re the champions, we’re the champions, we’re… the champions?”. His premature celebration was cut short when he realized the announcer hadn’t proclaimed their squad as the winners, the arena dead silent, “Uh… where’s our victory? You took out Gibraltar, right?”.

“Of course, I did! He and Wraith were the only two I saw lurking around, I just figured their last squadmate got killed already…”.

“Well we haven’t won yet, and that could only mean… “.

Bangalore’s eyes widened, “Oh shit,”.

“HOUND!” Mirage yelled over the coms, running back towards the shack they’d left Bloodhound in, “Come on, come on, please tell me you didn’t keel over or something, we kinda got a situation!”.

This time the hunter in question answered back fairly quickly._ “Mirage? What is it… are you alright?” they asked. _

“I’m fine, but you’re in danger, you need to get the fuck out of there, okay? There’s one person left now and with you still injured, you’re an easy target. We have no clue who it is, but I’ve got a nasty feeling it's-”.

A loud metallic banging echoing in the background cut Mirage off before he was able to finish his sentence, it sounded like someone trying to kick down one of the large metal doors. He heard the hunter curse in their native language as the sound grew louder until whoever was trying to get inside finally broke through.

“_...Caustic,”_ Bloodhound hissed, their voice coming off more like a growl, “_Hurry, Elliott. I do have enough ammo to handle him on my----”._

There were more crashing and banging sounds going on in the background before the line finally went dead, sending a cold feeling through Mirage’s body as he pushed himself to run harder, needing to get to Bloodhound quickly before Caustic could do any real damage. 

If there was one thing you needed to know about Alexander Nox, it was that he savored the kill, making it as long and painful as possible.

That fact alone might give them more time.

But nothing could stop him from fearing the worst the closer and closer they got to the shack, “Hold on, Hound… I’m coming,”

* * *

By the time they finally reached the small building, Bloodhound was lying on the floor, unmoving as Caustic stood above them, a foot digging into their back and holding them down. “Ah… the other specimens,” the larger man said, a grotesque smile peaking through his gas mask, “Now the experiment can begin,”.

Mirage already had his Wingman pointed right at Caustic, the gun loaded and ready to fire. “Do that on your own time, dickwad,” he hissed, “Your whole squad is dead and you’re by yourself… just give up the fight and let Bloodhound go. Now!”.

“But this is all part of the fun… besides, what better specimen than you two,” the man replied, grabbing the unconscious Bloodhound by the collar of their coat and showing them off like a prize, “The things you’ll do for those you care about…”.

A small tremble in his hand put Mirage off his mark.

“Focus, soldier,” Bangalore warned, drawing her own pistol out as well, “He’s just trying to get in your head, don’t listen,”.

It was hard not to, Bloodhound looked like a ragdoll, and who knew what kind of fucked-up experiment Caustic had in store? But nonetheless, Mirage steadied his aim and furrowed his brow, “I’m not going to ask again, asshole. Put them down or I’ll kill you,”.

“You shoot, and I’ll kill them,” he replied.

“We’d still win, and Hound will respawn,”.

The grin on the other man’s face grew.

“Or will they?”.

Reaching behind him, Caustic produced a small device, throwing it down at his feet and kicking it towards Mirage. He didn’t recognize it at first, but after a moment, to his utter horror, he realized what it was, the device drastically changing the whole situation.

“You… you took off their Respawn Card?! Do you know how fucking Illegal that is? If they die, they’ll die for real!!” He yelled, snatching up the device, “I knew you were a sadistic fuck, but _ this, _this is an all-time low for you,”.

“You can’t get any lower than rock bottom, but you would know a thing or two about that… wouldn’t you, Elliot,”.

“I’ll kill you, the second we’re off this godforsaken island I’m going to fucking kill you!” Mirage continued.

“Stop it!” Bangalore interrupted, her gun still pointed at Caustic, “You really want to throw your whole career away on killing someone? You know they have cameras everywhere, right? There’s no way you’ll get away with this…”.

“An Electromagnetic Pulse has already taken care of that, we’re in the dark for the next 20 minutes. No cameras, no dropships… just us”.

Mirage felt his heart sink deep into his chest, a sudden and intense flash of rage overwhelming him just as quick.

“Put them down, right fucking now!” he all but screamed, firing a warning shot into the roof and taking a few steps forward. He couldn’t help it anymore, he couldn’t just stand there and watch while the one person he cared about on this godforsaken planet, in his whole miserable life, was teetering towards death. “I’m not going to ask you again… Put. Them. Down”.

That was the wrong thing to do apparently, the moment he moved forward Caustic pulled out a knife out of seemingly nowhere, holding the large serrated blade up to Bloodhound’s throat. 

“_ Tisk Tisk… _ Oh, Elliott, poor, stupid Elliott,” he said, “I thought by now you’d know better than challenging me. Is this really how you want to see your precious teammate go out? Is this the last time you want to see them? Weak and useless?”.

“They aren’t weak,” Mirage hissed, noticing Bloodhound stirring ever so slightly, their hand shakily reaching for their own knife, “They're stronger than anyone here, stronger than your fat ass, that’s for sure.''

“Are you trying to piss him off?!” Bangalore whispered, looking at him with confusion before turning to the larger man, “The ring is going to be here any minute, Caustic… give up now and we don’t say anything about what you tried to do…”.

“You know that’s not an option… no matter what you do, I'm going to kill them. I just like watching you squirm,”. He pressed his knife closer to the hunter’s throat, and Mirage couldn’t help but wince at the sight. “So… before I get this over with, any last words to them, Elliott?”.

“Uhg, How kind of you,” the woman muttered.

Mirage looked back at Bloodhound, who’d finally taken hold of their knife, waiting for the right moment to strike. Even from behind their mask, he could tell that they were fearless… death didn’t scare them, not even in the slightest. 

“I might not have anything to say,” he replied, lowering his gun with a cocky smile as the hunter gave him a small nod, “… but I’m pretty sure they do”.

Before Caustic could even react to what he’d said, Bloodhound made their move, swinging back and jamming the knife back into the man’s skull. A spurt of blood exploded into the air as the man screamed in pain, jerking back violently as he dropped the hunter to the floor on his way down, blood trickling out of his forehead and face.

He was dead before he even hit the ground, his death box clattering against the rickety wooden floorboards.

And as quickly as it all began, it was over.

_ “You Are The Apex Champions!” _ The automated voice finally rang out, doing little to comfort Elliott as he tried desperately to maintain a steady breathing pattern. His cockiness went a long way to hide the fact that he was utterly terrified about everything going on around him.

He shook his head and let his Wingman fall out of his hands as he sank to his knees, sighing shakily. “It’s over Elliott, we won. They’re safe now… they're safe,” he mumbled to himself, looking over at Bloodhound who was still on the floor beside Caustic’s deathbox, their breathing almost as heavy as his own.

“G- Good work, félagi,” they wheezed softly, seeming to struggle to get to their feet, “Take pride in your victory”.

“Congrats on your first win, kid,” Anita said, giving his shoulder a firm, reassuring squeeze, “You… you did real good. Both of you. Dropship should be here any minute now to take us home...I think I owe ya a beer”.

He nodded numbly and heaved another shaking sigh, taking hold of Anita’s hand as she pulled him up, “Thanks, that was… that was really intns… intans... inten, fuck… that was really _ intense _. You- you okay there Hound?”.

They nodded, propping themselves up against the wall of the shack, “I- I will be fine,”.

They sure didn’t _ sound _ fine… at all, their breathing was too harsh, almost strained. “You sure about that, you did just get your respawn card ripped off of you,” Anita asked, cautiously stepping closer to them, “Bloodhound?”.

The hunter didn’t respond, and the wheezing continued.

Elliott gave the woman a concerned look as he walked forward and reached out, gently resting a hand on their arm, “Hey, buddy it’s over…you can-”.

Bloodhound flinched slightly under his touch and shoved his hand away, silently pushing past both of them. But they didn’t get very far, after a few steps they seemingly lost their balance and stumbled forward, barely giving Elliott enough time to catch them before they hit the ground.

“Shit! Hey, hey… It’s okay, I got you”.

“I- am fine!” they croaked, trying once again to push away from him, “I don’t… *cough* n- need help!”. Their struggling did nothing as Elliott simply held them for a moment before settling them down on the ground again, listening as their breathing became more and more panicked, “Láttu mig vera!”.

“Calm down, calm down!” Anita insisted, “The quicker you relax, the faster we can help you. And don’t tell us nothing’s wrong cause it’s pretty fucking clear something is”.

“Mér gengur vel, ég sver það!” they exclaimed, their words suddenly overtaken by a harsh choking cough that rattled through their body, “Fjandinn hafi það...”.

“J- just… just take a deep breath,” Elliott urged, “You’re going to make yourself hyper… hyperventa… you’re going to make yourself pass out!”.

Bloodhound shook their head, hands absently grabbing at the fabric around their neck, “..._ Can’t, _”.

He blinked, “w- what?”.

They let out something close to a sob, “... _ I can’t breathe _”.

Elliott’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what had happened. As he went down, Caustic’s knife must have cut in and nicked one of the many lines on their respirator, essentially cutting off their breathing. 

They were suffocating in their own mask.

“Oh fuck… fuck!” Elliott yelled, pulling his hands back in a panic as he wiped his head around to look at Anita, “Go find some syringes… or, or a medkit, or _ something _, we have to help them!”.

She just stood there stiffly for a moment, eyes wide, “I- I have a few on me but-”.

“Give ‘em to me!”.

“Elliott, that isn’t going to-,”.

“I said_ give them to me _!” he spat, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he took an uneven breath, “... please,”. The woman just sighed and tossed him a pack of syringes without saying another word, watching as he took them and once again jabbed the needle into Bloodhound’s arm.

“J- just try and stay with me,” Elliott muttered, “Y- you’re going to be fine, Hound, I promise”.

They shook their head and whined softly, nothing but a few garbled wheezes escaping their throat.

“Shh, try not to talk, it’s going to be okay,”.

He could tell they were crying now, quiet sobs racking their body as they looked up at him through large, beady-eyed goggles, head swaying dangerously low. “_ I… I don’t want to die, Elliott,” _

Elliott felt his heart sink upon hearing that, letting the now empty syringe drop from his hand. “N- no, don’t- don’t start talking like that, you’re going to be fine, I promised,” he said, tears streaming freely down his cheeks as he gave them a gentle shake, “Hound?”.

No response.

“Bloodhound?”.

Their head hung limply from their shoulders, the air in the shack now eerily silent. “No…” he muttered, immediately putting his ear to where their mouth would be, listening, _ praying _ that he’d still be able to hear them breathe, however weak it may be, “No no no, please no _ ,”. _

Nothing.

“Th- they aren’t breathing,”.

“Fuck!” Anita hissed, “The dropships won’t be here in time to-”

“I know, I know! I- fuck… I- I need to...” he muttered numbly, eyes wide and filled with fear as he looked down at the…. _ unconscious, _ he decided silently, hunter, “I need to do CPR…”.

“What?! Are you insane!? You can’t take off their mask, they have it on for a reason!”.

“Well, they’re going to die if I don’t do something!”.

“They could die if you do!” she retorted, “How do you know they can even breathe on this planet? Taking that mask off could be a death sentence…”.

Elliott shut his eyes tightly, feeling more tears slip through the edges as he desperately tried to keep his emotions in check. “I know, but what choice do we have? Go see if you can flag down the dropship when it gets here,” he said, hesitantly reaching his hands over Bloodhound’s mask before retracting them, “and give me some of your smoke canisters before you leave,”.

“What? Why?”.

“Do we really have time to be asking questions here?”.

“Fine,” the woman said, tossing him a few canisters from off her belt, “I really hope you know what you’re doing, Witt”.

“Me too,” he said once she dashed out of the shack, leaving him and Bloodhound alone once again, “... me too,”.

* * *

“O- okay… here we go,” Elliott muttered to himself as he grabbed hold of the hunter’s shoulders and gently pulled them down to rest flat on their back. For once he was thankful that his mother had gotten him that shitty lifeguard job a couple of years back, otherwise, he wasn’t sure if he’d have the slightest clue what to do. After another quick sigh, he set himself to work, not having any time to hesitate or second guess himself when Bloodhound’s life was literally wasting away in front of him.

Quickly he popped a cap off one of the canisters and tossed it a few feet away, a thick veil of smoke immediately filling the room, enough so that he could barely see his hands in front of his face, let alone whatever Bloodhound looked like under their mask.

“I’m… I’m sorry about this, Hound…” he said as he blindly reached over and grabbed the back of their mask and pulled, carefully lifting it away from their face. It came off easier than expected, the thing making a small hissing sound as whatever little air that was trapped inside slowly escaped, “But I can’t just sit here and watch you die_ . _I won’t lose you too”.

Elliott found himself wishing that they’d react to their mask getting taken off, even though they’d likely gut him for it when they saw what he’d done… but at least it would mean they were still alive. When he got no response, he hovered his hands over their chest, considering for a moment if he should try and remove some of the padding they had on, but he’d already violated enough of their privacy for one day.

“Starting chest compressions,” he said in the hopes that they’d, at the very least, hear what he was doing. He locked his hands together and pressed down on their chest as hard as he could, keeping in rhythm until he counted to thirty. He leaned over to where their mouth would be and listened, anxiety growing in his gut, “Come on, come on…”.

Still nothing.

“Fuck… fuck, fuck…” Elliott mumbled, looking down through the smoke at the human-esque figure below him, tilting their chin up ever so slightly, “Come on… work with me, buddy,”. He gently pinched their nose and took a large breath, exhaling the contents of his lungs into their open mouth until their chest rose and eventually fell again. “Just_ breathe _, damn it!” he hissed, another wave of panic washed over him as he continued with the chest compressions, “Don’t let that bastard be the one to take you down...”. 

After popping open another smoke canister, and repeating the whole process twice more, he waited, hoping that it would be enough to get them to breathe on their own but alas…

Nothing…

“Please,” he said again, finally lifting his trembling hands away from their chest with a strangled sob, “No, no, no…_ not you too _”. 

Elliott knew what it felt like to lose someone he cared about, and he knew the feeling well, one might even say he had a good relationship with the emotion. He’d lost his brothers not so long ago, the event leaving him feeling raw and exposed, even now 5 years after the fact. His mother, though still alive, was withering away slowly, the trauma of losing 3 of her sons being too much to handle. Part of him worried that he would follow suit…and in a game of life and death he was sure of it… but this, _ this _ might just be the thing to push him over the edge.

“FUCK!” he cried out, letting himself fall over their body as he sobbed, fists pounding on their chest again in a halfhearted attempt to revive them. His brothers were likely dead, his mother was wasting away day by day, and now he failed to save the one person who made living life a little more bearable.

No matter how hard he tried, Elliott Witt just couldn’t catch a break.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry,” he continued, l hands absently grabbing at their armor, “I- I tried, I really tried, I’m so sorry”.

Anita would be back with the dropship crew soon, and they’d take him and Hound back to the mainland where there were no doubt tons of journalists and showrunners would be waiting to meet them, eager and anxious to know what the hell went down in the arena and why the 4-time champion was dead in his arms. Nox would probably get off scot-free since he knocked out the cameras and left behind absolutely no evidence of what he tried to do, making Elliott the only suspect and leaving him behind to deal with the fallout of his actions.

“I- I shouldn’t have left you here,” he stammered, “I could have saved you, I- I never got the chance to tell you, I- I-”. 

Elliott paused suddenly, feeling a small shift from below him, a shutter almost, fragments of a broken gasp piercing the air. He immediately pulled himself away from Bloodhound’s body and stared through the smoke, watching as their trembling form continued to move ever so slightly.

“H- Hound?”.

They began to cough, taking sharp, desperate breaths of air as they absently reached out for something to grab onto, hands combing through the smoke. Elliott sat there stunned for a moment before he snapped out of it and grabbed their flailing arms, immediately pulling them up until they were sitting upright.

“Oh fuck…”.

“F- fjandinn…!” Bloodhound wheezed harshly, their voice raw and strained… unmodulated.

Elliott’s mind was still, once again struggling to catch up to what was happening in front of him, mindlessly rubbing soothing circles on their back with shaking hands as he continued to mutter, “Oh, fuck oh fuck, oh _ f _ ** _uck,_ **” over and over again as they turned to him in a slight panic.

“E- Elliott?” they choked out, still struggling to maintain a steady breathing pattern, “Hvað? What..?”.

“Fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fuck,” he continued, staring blankly at them. He hadn’t noticed that the smoke had started thinning out again, giving him a rather clear look at the fearsome hunter who sat mear inches away from him.

Bloodhound blinked back at him in confusion, “What happened… why are you *cough* looking at me like that? Why am I?” the hunter paused mid-sentence as they reached up, their hand brushing against their bare, scar covered face, eyes widening in horror as they spotted their helmet sitting on the floor beside them.

Elliott winced when they made a small yelping noise, their almost soul-piercing green eyes immediately locking back onto him, and if looks could kill.... “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I _ had _ to do it, I had to…” he cried out, tears rolling down his cheeks again. “I couldn’t just let you d- die, not you too, not like that. K- Kill me if you want, but… just know that I’m _ sorry, _ Hound. I’m so sorry…”.

They didn’t move, breathing still heavy and far more panicked than it should be.

He stared at them, eyes equally as wide and mind swirling with all sorts of emotions he simply couldn’t even begin to comprehend. For a moment he wondered if Bloodhound would say something, thank him for saving their life or perhaps even cuss him out for removing their mask, but instead, least of all what Elliott was expecting, their fist collided with his face and everything went dark.


End file.
